(5) Nymphets have “marvelous skin.” As Humbert puts it, “Nymphets do not have acne although they gorge themselves on rich food.”

(6) Nymphets are not the prettiest among young girls.

(7) Nymphets are very rare: “Within the same age limits [9–14] the number of true nymphets is strikingly inferior to that of provisionally plain, or just nice, or ‘cute,’ or even ‘sweet’ and ‘attractive,’ . . . girls.”

(11) Nymphets are “so cruel and crafty in everyday life,” but have a “cheerful indifference” in formal games like tennis.

(12) Nymphets are prone to dangerous heat when emotional: “Hysterical little nymphs might, I knew, run up all kinds of temperature—even exceeding a fatal count.”

(13) Nymphets retain some, though not all, of their nymphic traits, as they age, such as the cheekbone. Humbert can spot these postnymphs almost at a glance—for example, when he notes on the street “a delinquent nymphet shining through the matter-of-fact young whore.”